If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #543
Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992
Swarming 'swells' locusts' brains
By Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News 25 May 2010
Swarming locusts not only look different and act differently to solitary locusts, they also have much larger brains.
This is according to scientists at the University of Cambridge who captured images of the results of dramatic changes inside the insects' heads.
The team described how the same locust could switch between a "solitary" and "gregarious" (swarming) phase.
They described their findings in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"Normally locusts would avoid close contact with each other," explained Dr Swidbert Ott of the UK's University of Cambridge. "It's only when they are forced to be in close contact that they change dramatically."
This is a survival mechanism. It occurs when the insects run out of food and are forced together onto any remaining patches of vegetation. Continue reading the main story
[In a swarm] the insects even turn to cannibalism - if you're not quick enough you turn into lunch
Dr Swidbert Ott University of Cambridge
"So they have to travel in this massive swarm to find the new patches," said Dr Ott.
Working with colonies of gregarious locusts, Dr Ott and his Cambridge colleague Dr Stephen Rogers, converted some of them into the solitary phase by keeping them in isolation for three generations.
"Solitarious locusts are a real pain to keep," he revealed. "You can't keep them together or they will change, so every one is kept like a race horse in its little stable - we have about 100 individual boxes with all the supplies they need."
At the end of this three-generation breeding programme, the scientists imaged and measured the insects' brains.
They discovered that the brains of gregarious locusts were 30% larger.
"You find that brain regions specifically to do with things like learning and memory are massively enlarged in the gregarious ones," explained Dr Ott.
He said that this difference, although surprising, did make evolutionary sense. False colour images of solitarious (left) and gregarious locusts Coloured images show the differences in size of various brain areas
"Inside the swarm, they're swamped with information.
"The higher bits of the brain that deal with complexity allow them to make sense of the mayhem going on around them."
Dr Ott and his team had previously shown that a signalling chemical in the brain, called serotonin, was crucial in this sudden change in the insects' behaviour - causing a solitary creature to become part of this frenzied swarm.
When this sudden behavioural change happens, the locusts also (much more gradually) change in colour and even body shape.
"People used to think that the two phases were actually two different species," said Dr Ott.
He concluded: "Being inside these swarms is really a messy business - it's driven by hunger and the need to figure out where to find new food.
"These insects even turn to cannibalism - if you're not quick enough you turn into lunch, so the [big] brain gives them the edge in a cut throat situation."
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Swarming 'swells' locusts' brains
